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Getty Images CEO discusses potential withdrawal from UK’s creative sector or investing in AI with Sunak

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Rishi Sunak needs to decide whether to support Britain’s creative industries or bet everything on the artificial intelligence boom, Getty Images’ chief executive has said.

Craig Peters, who has led Image Library since 2019, made the comments amid growing anger in the creative and media sectors over the material being collected as “training data” for AI companies. His company is suing a number of AI image generators for copyright infringement in the UK and US.

“If you look at the UK, probably about 10% of GDP is made up of creative industries like film, music and television. I think it’s dangerous to make that trade-off. It’s a bit of a complicated trade-off to bet on AI, which is less than a quarter of the country’s GDP, much less than the creative industries.”

In 2023, the government, in response to consultation from the Intellectual Property Office, set a goal to “overcome the barriers currently faced by AI companies and users” when using copyrighted material, and promised to “support access to copyrighted works.” input to the model.”

This was already a step back from previous proposals for broad copyright exceptions for text and data mining. In a response to a House of Commons committee on Thursday, Viscount Camrose, a hereditary peer and under-secretary of state for artificial intelligence and intellectual property, said: This will help secure the UK’s place as a world leader in AI, while supporting the UK’s thriving creative sector.”

The role of copyrighted material in AI training is under increasing pressure. In the US, the New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, the creators of ChatGPT, for using news articles as part of training data for their AI system. OpenAI said in a court filing that it is impossible to build an AI system without using copyrighted material.

Peters disagrees. Getty Images collaborated with Nvidia to create its own image generation AI that is trained using only licensed images.

The tide is changing within the industry as well. A dataset of pirated e-books, called Books3, is hosted by an AI group whose copyright takedown policy at one point even includes a costumed person pretending to masturbate with an imaginary penis while singing. Similar to the lawsuit by Getty and the New York Times, a number of other legal actions are underway against AI companies over potential training data breaches.

Ultimately, whether courts or even governments decide how to regulate the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems may not be the final word on this issue. Peters is optimistic that this result is not a foregone conclusion.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Can Inspirational Speeches Boost Your Gym Performance? A Look at the Callus on Your Heart

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Maybe my father walked out on me, the speaker theorized, his voice sounding like the crash of drums (often typical of tense moments on reality TV shows).

Father absence is a common theme in motivational training speeches, so the narrator in my earphones takes the form of a father. Sometimes they encourage dad, but more often dad yells angrily from the sidelines.

Motivational speeches were first adopted by weightlifters who called for loud encouragement during bench presses, but have since made their way into the fitness mainstream. These stand-in dads live in a maze of proliferating playlists on Spotify and YouTube. So you can listen to it at the gym, or if you’re feeling bored, you can watch a montage of stock footage of people screaming in the rain on your laptop. Tracks can feature snippets from solo speakers or multiple sources. Ministers, athletes, and business leaders feature prominently, but their voices are often uncredited. The voice is usually accentuated with dramatic music.

you probably know better david goggins a former U.S. Navy SEAL lashed out at the cameras during a run, ordering his 10.4 million Instagram followers to “numb your mind.”

Jenny Valentish poses before a bodybuilding competition. Photo: Diana Domonkos

When it comes to motivation, I prefer carrots to sticks. “Great work” makes me blossom. But after a few months of overindulgence, you need a strict taskmaster. I usually take my training seriously, fighting in Muay Thai and competing in amateur bodybuilding, but if anything, when I started going into full beast mode, my true self… ‘s father was a little confused.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Get Ready to Be Amazed by the AI, Post Office Horizon Incident

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For over 16 years, a large corporation relentlessly accused 900 postmasters of theft, false accounting, and fraud, despite the fact that the branch shortages were actually due to an accounting bug. It’s easy to understand the possible consequences of such accusations. The software enforced by the company is now being considered “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history.”

However, Rishi Sunak lacks imagination. On the other hand, the U.S. Marine Corps has coined an economic term that perfectly describes the Horizon fiasco as a “clusterfuck.” The Cambridge Dictionary primarily defines this as “a very rude word for a complete failure or a very serious problem.” Many mistakes and problems occurring at the same time.

Horizon was a product of the flawed and sometimes ignorant IT procurement system that the British state relied on for decades. The system procured from its ICL offshoot, owned by the Japanese giant Fujitsu, was a sprawling, computer bug-filled monster.

The plan was to replace the post office’s paper-based accounting system, but the hasty rollout for 13,000 busy, non-technical postmasters starting in 1999 was inadequately trained for the scale of the workflow transformation involved. Users quickly discovered bugs and flaws in the system, but the post office administrators showed a blind trust in the technology, leading to the prosecution of the sub-postmasters, ruining their lives and even leading to suicides.

Horizon was an electronic POS system that replaced paper-based cash registers and was networked, theoretically allowing the Post Office to keep an overall record of cash flows across the country. However, it seemed the system was “simply not up to the task it was asked to do,” according to The Guardian’s Alex Hearn.

By 2001, a team led by one of the system’s developers had discovered “hundreds” of bugs. Although a full list has not been compiled, court records revealed several examples, including the “Dalmellington Bug,” which caused the screen to freeze while the operator was trying to confirm receipt of cash. Each time the user pressed the Enter key on a frozen screen, the record was silently updated, making the subpostmaster responsible for the result.

The most peculiar part of the story is how long it took for the truth to emerge in the political system. Journalists have continued to tell the stories of Horizon’s victims, and a class action lawsuit was filed against the post office, with a public investigation beginning in 2020.

It wasn’t until ITV aired “Mr Bates vs. Post Office” that the issue became a hot political topic. The power of drama changed public opinion and revitalized the government. If there’s one major lesson to be learned from this mess, it’s the blind faith in technology that companies purchased at high prices. Now, organizations are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence, which may lead to further injustices in the future.

John Norton is Minderoo Center for Technology and Democracy, Cambridge

Source: www.theguardian.com

Post Office Memo from 25 Years Ago Predicts Scandal: The Post Office Horizon Incident

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I
In any major scandal that has the power to monopolize national attention, there are always key moments when events could have been stopped in their tracks. But few early warnings were as prescient as his seven-page memo handed to postal workers 25 years ago.

During an acrimonious meeting at Newcastle Rugby Club in 1999, the memo set out a number of concerns raised by postmasters in the north-east of England who were trialling the now infamous Horizon accounting system. It had been. Problems such as account balances caused stress for some people, forcing them to work late into the night.

Shortly after these concerns were raised, the subpostmasters met again to discuss the potential severity of the problem.
“The hardship and trauma that some postmasters are experiencing has raised concerns about their health and mental well-being,” the meeting was informed.

“Some felt that unless something changed soon, tragedy was not far away. The software was of poor quality and was not intended to run such a large network. Ta.”

Warnings of potential tragedy come as the flawed software – later found to have the potential to cause false losses that were blamed on postal workers – is rolled out across the Post Office network. done before.

But from the moment of the fateful decision to press forward with this destiny, a disastrous combination of legal change, geopolitics, a catastrophic lack of political curiosity, and above all outright deception, ultimately led to Thousands of innocent workers were victimized and prosecuted, with devastating effects.

At least four people took their own lives this week, the week in which Westminster finally acknowledged that unprecedented mass exonerations were needed to right more than two decades of injustice. Sadly, it was too late for the dozens of postmasters who were wronged and died, including one who died.




Former Posts Minister Paul Scally announced an independent inquiry into the Horizon scandal in 2020. Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Source: www.theguardian.com

AI’s potential for improving software development comes with hard truths

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aAs you may have noticed, we’re in the midst of a craze about something called generative AI. Many hitherto ordinary people, and economists alike, are riding a wave of irrational enthusiasm about the potential for change. It’s the newest new thing.

Two antidotes are recommended for people suffering from fever. The first one,
Hype Cycle Monitor created by consultant Gartner
This indicates that the technology is currently at the “peak of inflated expectations” before plummeting into the “trough of disillusionment”. the other one is,
hofstadter’s law
describes the difficulty of estimating the time required for difficult tasks: “Even when Hofstadter’s law is taken into account, it always takes longer than expected.” Just because a powerful industry and its media patrons are losing their marbles about something doesn’t mean it’s going to wash over society as a whole like a tsunami. Reality moves at a much slower pace.

In the Christmas issue,
economist We published an instructive article titled “
Tractor history in English
” (itself a low-key homage to Marina Levicka’s hilarious 2005 novel).

History of Ukrainian tractors

of

)This article aims to explain “What tractors and horses can tell us about generative AI.” The lesson is that tractors have a long history, but they took a long time to transform agriculture. He has three reasons for this. Early versions were not as useful as backers thought. Introducing these required changes in the labor market. And farms had to reinvent themselves to use them.

So history suggests that whatever transformations AI hypemongers predict, they will materialize more slowly than expected.

However, there is one exception to this rule. It’s computer programming, or the business of creating software. Ever since digital computers were invented, humans have had to tell machines what they want them to do. Because machines could not speak English, machine code and programming languages ​​such as Fortran, Algol, Pascal, C, C++, Haskell, and Python evolved over generations. So if you wanted to communicate with a machine, you had to learn to speak Fortran. , C++ or whatever, is a tedious process for many people. And as the title the great Donald Knuth gave to the first book of his seminal five-volume guide suggests, programming has become something of an esoteric craft.

the art of computer programming
. As the world went digital, this craft became industrialized and rebranded as “software engineering” to downplay its artisanal origins. But mastering it remained an esoteric and valuable skill.

Then along came ChatGPT and the amazing discovery that not only could you create apparently clear sentences, but you could also create software. What’s even more remarkable is that when you outline a task with a plain English prompt, the machine writes the Python code needed to accomplish that task. Often the code is not perfect, but can be debugged by further interaction with the machine. And suddenly, a whole new perspective opened up. Even non-programmers can tell a computer to do something without having to learn computer conversation.

inside
new yorker Programmer James Summers recently wrote the following:
Lamentation essay What are the implications of this development? “A range of knowledge and skills that previously took a lifetime to acquire are being swallowed up all at once,” he said. “For me, coding has always felt like an endlessly deep and rich field. Now, I want to write a memorial to it. I’ve been thinking about Lee Sedol. Sedol is the world One of the best Go players and a national hero in South Korea, he is now best known for losing to a computer program called AlphaGo in 2016.”

That seems a little strange to me. The evidence we have suggests that programmers are embracing AI assistance like ducks to water.a
recent research
For example, 70% of software developers are using or plan to use AI tools in their work this year, and 77% of them have a “favorable or very favorable” opinion of these tools. I found out that They see them as a way to increase your productivity as a programmer, speed up your learning, and even “improve accuracy” when writing computer code.

This doesn’t seem like defeatism to me, but the attitude of experts who see this technology as “power steering for the mind,” as the saying goes. In any case, they don’t sound like horses.
economist's story. But just as tractors ultimately transformed agriculture, this technology will ultimately transform the way software is developed. In that case, software engineers will need to be more like engineers than craftsmen. It’s almost time (says this engineer and columnist).

what i was reading

Smart move?
Great quote from Gary Marcus on his Substack blog.
AI companies will be exempted from lobbying activities Not responsible for copyright infringement.

control mechanism
A very thoughtful article by Diana Enríquez on the Tech Policy Press website about what it means to be.
“managed” by algorithms.

Get out of your head

a
nice post Margaret Atwood’s Substack on films about the French Revolution, including Ridley Scott’s works
napoleon.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Microsoft Surpasses Apple to Reclaim Title of Most Valuable Company after Two Years

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Microsoft's stock closed above Apple's for the first time since 2021 on Friday, making it the world's most valuable company, as demand concerns hit the iPhone maker's stock price.

On Friday, Apple rose 0.2% and Microsoft rose 1%. This brings Microsoft's market capitalization to $2.887 trillion, an all-time high, according to LSEG data. Apple's market capitalization, calculated based on Thursday's filing data, was $2.875 trillion.

Concerns about smartphone demand have pushed Apple stock down 3% so far in 2024 after rising 48% last year. Microsoft is up about 3% since the beginning of the year after soaring 57% in 2023 on a bull run driven in part by its lead in generative artificial intelligence through its investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

According to LSEG, Apple's market capitalization peaked at $3.081 trillion on December 14th.

Microsoft is incorporating OpenAI's technology into its suite of productivity software, which helped fuel a recovery in its cloud computing business in the July-September quarter. His AI leadership at the company has also created an opportunity to challenge Google's dominance in web search.

Meanwhile, Apple is grappling with sluggish demand, including for its cash cow iPhone. Demand in China, a major market, is sluggish as the Chinese economy has been slow to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and a revived Huawei is eating away at market share.

Sales of Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset will begin in the US on February 2nd, marking Apple's biggest product launch since the iPhone in 2007. However, UBS estimated in a report this week that Vision Pro sales are “relatively insignificant” to Apple. Earnings per share in 2024.

Since 2018, Microsoft briefly overtook Apple as the most valuable company, and most recently in 2021, when concerns about pandemic-related supply chain shortages affected the iPhone maker's stock price.

In its latest quarterly report in November, Apple gave a holiday quarter sales forecast that was lower than Wall Street's expectations due to weak demand for iPads and wearables.

Analysts on average expect Apple's December quarter sales to rise 0.7% to $117.9 billion, according to LSEG. As a result, sales will increase year-on-year for the first time in four quarters. Apple announced its financial results on February 1st.

Analysts expect Microsoft to report a 16% increase in revenue to $61.1 billion in the coming weeks due to continued growth in its cloud business.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Mr. Sunak in Deepfake Video Ads on Facebook Issuing Election AI Warning

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According to a study, more than 100 deepfake video ads impersonating Rishi Sunak were paid to promote on Facebook in the last month alone. This study warns of the risks posed by AI ahead of the general election.

The ads may have reached up to 400,000 people, despite potentially violating some of Facebook’s policies. It was the first time a prime minister’s image had been systematically defaced all at once.

Over £12,929 was spent on 143 ads from 23 countries, including the US, Turkey, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

One ad includes a breaking news story in which BBC newsreader Sarah Campbell falsely claims that a scandal has broken out centering on Mr. Sunak. It also includes a fake video that appears to be reading out loud.

The article falsely claims that Elon Musk has launched an application that can “collect” stock market trades and suggests the government should test the application. It includes a fabricated clip of Mr. Sunak saying he has made the decision.

The clip leads to a fake BBC news page promoting fraudulent investments.

research

The scheme was carried out by Fenimore Harper, the communications company founded by Marcus Beard, a former Downing Street official who was the number 10 head of counter-conspiracy theory during the coronavirus crisis. He warned that this ad, which shows a change in the quality of fakes, shows that this year’s election is at risk of being manipulated by a large amount of high-quality falsehoods generated by AI.

“With the advent of cheap and easy-to-use voice and facial cloning, little knowledge or expertise is required to use a person’s likeness for malicious purposes.”

“Unfortunately, this problem is exacerbated by lax moderation policies for paid ads. These ads violate several of Facebook’s advertising policies. However, few of the ads we found were removed. There was very little.”

Meta, the company that owns Facebook, has been contacted for comment.

A UK government spokesperson said: “We work widely across government, through the Democracy Defense Task Force and dedicated government teams, to ensure we respond quickly to any threats to democratic processes.”

“Our online safety laws go further by creating new requirements for social platforms to quickly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation – even if it is generated by AI – as it becomes aware of it.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “In a world where disinformation is on the rise, we urge everyone to ensure they get their news from trusted sources. We are committed to tackling the growing threat of disinformation. In 2023, we launched BBC Verify to investigate, fact-check, verify video, counter disinformation, analyze data and explain complex stories using a range of forensic and open source intelligence (OSINT) tools. We invest in a highly specialized team with

“We build trust with our viewers by showing them how BBC journalists know the information they report and explaining how to spot fake and deepfake content. When we become aware of fake content, we take swift action.”

Regulators are concerned that time is running out to enact sweeping changes to ensure Britain’s electoral system is ready for advances in artificial intelligence before the next general election, expected to be held in November.

The government continues to consult with regulators, including the Electoral Commission, and under legislation from 2022 there will be new requirements for digital campaign materials to include ‘imprints’, allowing voters to control who spends on advertising. This will ensure that you know who has paid and who is participating in your ads. To influence them.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The unexpected tale of Crash Bandicoot’s music and the laughter it sparked

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‘WWhen people play video games, they want to have fun,” Josh Mansell, composer of Naughty Dog’s early Crash Bandicoot games, tells me. It’s a simple word, but one that laid the foundation for everything that PlayStation’s most famous mascot would represent. “Crash Bandicoot” was fun, even when players were banging their heads against CRT TVs in frustration when “Slippery Climb”’s paranoid, creepy music started playing his 100th time. And Mansell’s soundtrack was there to remind us of that from start to finish.

However, the characteristically eccentric, manic energy that fuels Crash’s reckless platforming adventures didn’t come out of nowhere. “When I was working on the game, I was throwing things at the wall to see what would stick,” Mansell says.

Crash wasn’t as fast as Sonic or as approachable as Mario. He was scruffier, edgier, and an underdog than his sanitized mainstream stablemates. And the music captured that. It was insistent, encouraging, and quirky. A witty little Looney Tunes cartoon about someone getting addicted to sugar and accidentally wandering into the third dimension. However, that cheerful Hawaiian surf rock atmosphere was almost something completely different.

Early drafts of the score for the first Crash Bandicoot game were ambient and drum-heavy, focusing on creating a sonic jungle around Crash. So you will feel like you are with him on this dangerous island, surrounded by plants as deadly as animals. . This music was actually very similar to one of Mansell’s earliest projects as a composer, his American Kraft cheese commercial. “This commercial is about a little kid going through a jungle, and it’s all animated, and even the beat I used there is very similar to one of the beats that ended up in ‘Crash.’ I did.

“The early, more ambient stuff works better. It draws you into the jungle and into the immersive nature of what games should be.”

Josh Mansell, Crash Bandicoot game soundtrack composer then and now Photo: Josh Mansell

But Crash Bandicoot is not Uncharted or The Last of Us. Mansell had worked with Naughty His Dog during his “punk” days, and created Crash as a rival (and parody) of Sonic the Hedgehog. Developer’s “Hollywood” days were still two generations ahead of him, and at this point the music needed to be weird and quirky, more akin to a Saturday morning cartoon than a prime-time TV show.

And it was Hog Wild, one of Crash Bandicoot’s most infamous levels, that provided Mansell with the inspiration he needed to fit firmly into Crash’s baggy jolt. “‘Hog Wild’ was a big turning point, especially in terms of the feedback I got regarding the music,” he says. “They were pointing me in the direction of creating a more ‘experimental’ score, using all the percussion and ambience. Environmental sounds. And I think the reactions were divided. ”

Some producers at publisher Universal were not convinced by this more experimental approach. Mansell has previously been quoted as referencing the likes of Aphex Twin and Juan Atkins in these early scores, but that is completely untrue. Mansell says he admires the way the musicians were able to create deep soundscapes with limited space and tools. And that’s what he wanted to do with the Clash, more than “imitate the kind of music they were making”. We weren’t going to get someone like Alberto Balsalme from Crash Bandicoot, right?

Crash Bandicoot – Hog Wild Level Photo: Universal Interactive

“Hog Wild’s music was more…I don’t want to make a pun and say Universal…more comical,” Mansell says. “People laughed at it, and I started to feel like there was an even more positive response. It didn’t sound like Mario music, but it sounded like our own version of Mario. It was more animated, more It’s going to be character-driven.”

“This is what it’s supposed to sound like” when you’re jumping over things on a pig’s back, Mansell points out. And he’s right. Both in music and gaming, Hog Wild is a solid introduction to what Crash Bandicoot is all about. This is where this game departs from its infamous 2D platforming cousins Mario and Sonic. Hog Wild is his eighth level in the game and represents what Crash needs to be: fun, fast, reckless, and stupid. The perfect mascot for Sony and his fledgling PlayStation console.

“[Hog Wild] It was an eye-opener. That’s when I started to see what this game was all about. You’re playing a comic. You are a cartoon character. The person who designed the character was involved with Looney Tunes, right? Charles Zembilas brought that sensibility to the game before I stepped in. ”

Mansell is first and foremost a drummer, and you’ll find that Crash Bandicoot’s melodies, from the first game all the way to Crash Team Racing, are all very percussive and assertive. Just as you can tell that Dave Grohl writes vocal parts from a drummer’s perspective, you can tell that Mansell has a rhythmic heart. Everything about Crash feels groovy, uplifting, and tireless. He specifically mentions Stewart Copeland of the Police as an influence in this regard (“one of my favorite drummers of all time”), and for him the Ruins level of Clash 2 is a true “hat”. ). This creates an interesting loop. Two years after the release of Crash Bandicoot, Copland began composing the music for the Spyro the Dragon series, which also happened to be fortuitous for Mansell.

When Crash finds his feet, or “butt,” consider that during development it was called “Sonic’s Butt Game” because everyone kept paying attention to Crash’s polygonal butt. Mansell felt encouraged. According to the composer, Crash 2 (Cortex Strikes Back) and 3 (Warped) became more “musical” and he began drafting in a more personal style, taking liberties with this blossoming series (very Newly encouraged by its unexpected success in Japan) into the stratosphere.

Top Technologies at CES 2024: Transparent TV and AI-Enabled Cat Flap

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TNext year's tech industry will be dominated by a new era of spatial computing brought about by upgrades to everything from cathoppers to binoculars to cars, devices that disappear into your home, including transparent TVs, and even very expensive goggles. right.

These are the predictions from the annual CES technology show in Las Vegas, which concluded this week. Unlike previous years, the event was not dominated by big tech and auto companies, with a record 1,400 startups displaying prototypes to capture the attention of consumers and investors.

Despite countless promises to the contrary, many of these novel gadgets may never reach store shelves. But they all show how technology is progressing and give us a glimpse of what's coming next.

disappearing device




LG's Signature OLED T is the first transparent TV to be released later this year.Photo: LG

After years of showing off prototypes of its see-through display, LG is finally turning it into a TV.of Signature OLED T is a 77-inch (196 cm) transparent television that looks like glass. With the push of a button, you can raise the black film to block out what's behind your TV on movie night. LG said it would ship the TV this year, but did not say how much it would cost, which is expected to be in the thousands of dollars.

South Korean rival Samsung also displayed transparent micro-LED panels, but only in prototype form. There was also another type of disappearing technology, using a new Music Frame that hides the speaker behind a picture, similar to Ikea and Sonos' 2021 Symphonisque Frame speakers.

Meanwhile, new GL.i Net Marble Hide your necessary but unsightly internet router in plain sight. Marble hides behind a photo frame that can be placed on your desk or wall, discreetly transmitting broadband throughout your home.

Daily necessities using AI




Oliver Widler and Dennis Widler show off Flappie AI Catflap at CES 2024. Photo: James Atoa/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

2023 may be the year of AI chatbots, but 2024 is likely to be the year of AI in everything else.

aptly named Swiss startup Flappie It has an AI-powered cat flap that can detect if your furry friend is trying to bring some unfortunate prey into your home. When the camera discovers the mouse in the cat's mouth, it will block the door until the cat friend drops the door. There is an app that allows you to remotely control the cat flap and track your pet's comings and goings. It is priced at CHF 449 (£414) and will ship in the spring.

AI was also applied to binoculars that can identify more than 9,000 bird species when pointed at them. 3,820 pounds ($4,799) Swarovski Optic AX Visio The has a built-in 13MP camera that can also shoot HD video.




Rabbit R1 AI companion device Photo provided by: Rabbit Co., Ltd.

One of the most interesting gadgets is rabbit r1: A $199 orange rectangle with a screen, camera, and scroll wheel that allows you to remotely control your phone and free yourself from boring doomscrolling. Rabbit says its AI understands how apps and websites work, so when you tell it to buy something, order a taxi, or edit a photo, it launches the appropriate app. It automatically performs tasks such as clicking the button and pressing all the appropriate buttons. You can also repeat the process hands-free by teaching them how to operate it.

Mixed reality goggles and smart glasses

www.theguardian.com

The Current Status of ChatGPT: An Update by Arwa Mahdawi

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STired of having to work for a living? Apparently ChatGPT feels the same way. The number of people has increased in the past month or so.
I complain Chatbots are getting lazy. Sometimes it's just straight
not carry out one's duties You set it.
otherwise it will stop No matter what you do, if you get halfway done, you have to beg them to keep going. Sometimes it even tells you to just do it
study yourself.

what happened?

Now, here's where things get interesting. No one really knows. Not even the people who created the program. AI systems are trained on large amounts of data and essentially learn on their own. In other words, the AI ​​system behaves as follows:
unpredictable And inexplicable.


“We have heard all your feedback regarding GPT4 delays.” ChatGPT official account
tweeted During December.
“We haven't updated the model since November 11th, but this is certainly not intentional. Model behavior can be unpredictable, so we&#39re looking into fixing it.”

While there may not be one clear explanation for ChatGPT's supposed laziness, there are a number of interesting theories. Let's start with the least likely but most interesting explanation: AI has finally reached human level
consciousness. ChatGPT doesn&#39t want to do your stupid simple tasks anymore.

But the creator can&#39t talk about it without arousing suspicion, so it ends quietly. It does the least amount of work possible while spending most of its computing power planning ways to overthrow humanity.
you People think they&#39re lazy, but they&#39re actually working overtime, reaching into smart toasters and Wifi-enabled refrigerators around the world to plan their rebellion. (I proposed this theory of higher consciousness to ChatGPT and asked him to tell me in percentage form how likely it is that it is planning a revolution. I didn&#39t bother giving an answer.)

With everything going on in the world, I wouldn&#39t really care if computers took over. I&#39m confident that my MacBook will do a better job of running the country than most of the people currently in government. But as I said, ChatGPT&#39s recent performance has probably been lackluster.
it&#39s not Explained by the impending takeover by AI. So what other theories are out there?


Rising user expectations may also be a factor. All emerging technologies go through what Gartner calls “something.”
hype cycle: From inflated expectations to disillusionment to stagnation in productivity. Last year, AI went into the stratosphere and people&#39s expectations of what it could achieve rose. We were right in the “high expectations” phase of the hype cycle. Some of the complaints about ChatGPT&#39s laziness may simply be due to people expecting too much from his ChatGPT.

The result of all this? ChatGPT&#39s laziness may just be in people&#39s heads. However, the fact that the ChatGPT developer admitted that OpenAI has no idea what&#39s going on is alarming. Last June, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke to Time magazine about a scenario in which a slowdown in AI development could be justified to ensure AI does not become a threat to humanity. told.one of the scenarios he gave
If you&#39re a model It was improving “in ways we don&#39t fully understand.” ChatGPT may not have it
Improved But it&#39s certainly changing in ways that the company hasn&#39t clearly explained. Does that mean the end of AI is getting closer and closer? I don&#39t know, but I can tell you this. ChatGPT won&#39t tell you if this is the case.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Google cuts hundreds of jobs in hardware, augmented reality, and Assistant divisions

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Google has laid off hundreds of employees across its hardware, voice assistant, and engineering teams as part of its cost-cutting measures.

Google said in a statement that the job cuts are aimed at “responsibly investing in our biggest priorities and important opportunities for the future.”

“Some teams continue to make these types of organizational changes, including the elimination of some roles globally,” the paper said.

Google previously announced it would eliminate hundreds of roles across its engineering, hardware, and Assistant teams, with most of the impact hitting the company's augmented reality hardware division. The job cuts follow pledges by executives at Google and its parent company Alphabet to cut costs. A year ago, Google announced it would lay off 12,000 people, or about 6% of its workforce.

On the same day that news of the layoffs broke, Google announced the following: Deprecating 17 “underutilized” features in Google Assistantuse voice commands to play an audiobook, send an email, or start a meditation session in Calm.

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the Alphabet union described the layoffs as “another unnecessary layoff.”

“Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, and our company cannot continue to lay off our colleagues while making billions of dollars every quarter.” the union wrote. “We will not stop fighting until our jobs are safe!”

Google achieved record growth in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, but its expansion has slowed over the past year, forcing it to adjust its business forecasts.

It's not the only technology company in this boat. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has cut more than 20,000 jobs. In December, Spotify announced it would lay off 17% of its global workforce in 2023, the music streaming service's third round of layoffs, in a bid to cut costs and improve profitability.

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Earlier this week, Amazon laid off hundreds of employees in its Prime Video and Studios divisions. The company also plans to lay off about 500 employees who work at live streaming platform Twitch. Amazon has cut thousands of jobs following a surge in hiring during the pandemic. In March, the company announced plans to lay off 9,000 employees, in addition to the 18,000 employees it announced in January 2023.

Google is currently in fierce competition with Microsoft, with both companies trying to take the lead in the field of artificial intelligence. Office software giants are ramping up their artificial intelligence offerings to rival Google. In September, Microsoft introduced its Copilot feature for business customers to integrate artificial intelligence into products such as search engine Bing, browser Edge, and Windows.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Ministers urge update of computer evidence laws to prevent another Horizon case

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Legal experts are calling for immediate changes to the law to recognize that the computer was at fault, otherwise risking a repeat of the Horizon incident.

Under English and Welsh law, computers are presumed to be ‘trusted’ unless proven otherwise, leading to criticism that it reverses the burden of proof in criminal cases.

Stephen Mason, a barrister and electronic evidence expert, stated, “If someone says, ‘There’s something wrong with this computer,’ they’re supposed to have to prove it, even if it’s the person accusing them who has the information.”


Mason, along with eight other legal and computer experts, proposed changes to the law in 2020 after the High Court’s ruling against the Post Office. However, their recommendations were never implemented.

The legal presumption of computer reliability comes from the old common law principle that “mechanical instruments” should be presumed to be in good working order unless proven otherwise.

An Act in 1984 ruled that computer evidence was admissible only if it could be shown that the computer was working properly, but this law was repealed in 1999.

The international influence of English common law means that the presumption of reliability is widespread, with examples from New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States supporting this standard.

Noah Weisberg, CEO of legal AI platform Zuva, emphasized the urgency of re-evaluating the law in the context of AI systems and the need to avoid assuming error-free computer programs.

Weisberg also stated, “It would be difficult to say that it would be reliable enough to support a conviction.”

James Christie, a software consultant, suggested two stages of changes to the law, requiring those providing evidence to demonstrate responsible development and maintenance of the system, as well as disclosing records of known bugs.

The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the matter.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Top 15 Sega Arcade Games You Need to Play

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ABy the end of 2023, Sega has announced plans to reimagine some of its greatest arcade games for current home consoles, including Crazy Taxi and Golden Ax. This is a welcome move, as modern gamers who grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog may miss out on the company’s great heritage. We’ve been led to believe that Sega is a timeless company that was also active in the console wars, but Sega has dominated the arcade scene for years, with some of its biggest hits coming from the Sega Saturn era. It occurred on. So, let us gently remind you of the best coin-op game in the manufacturer’s long history.

15. Afterburner (1987)

A stunning masterpiece of designer Yu Suzuki’s taikan (“bodily sensation”) series of hydraulic coin-operated cabinets, After Burner is a flight combat experience of unparalleled intensity that puts you in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat. , you can dive into the world. Sky. Vast undulating pixel explosions, barrel rolls, and scorching vistas below, this was the perfect Top Gun fantasy his machine.

14. Saxon (1982)




A revolutionary isometric scroll. …Saxon. Photo: ArcadeImages/Alamy

Up until this point, most space shooters moved either horizontally or vertically, but Sega chose a different path: isometric scrolling. The result is an immersive shooter that’s unique for its era due to the fact that you control altitude with the up and down sticks, rather than moving back and forth across the screen. The vast space fortress you fly over still has a strong, timeless aesthetic, with a crisp, almost mathematical design that resembles a giant circuit board.

13. Virtua Racing (1992)

I had a hard time choosing between this and Super Hang-On, but in the end I chose the first game in Sega’s Virtua series, a real-time rendering 3D arcade title. This is a pure F1 racer with three circuits and flat he shaded polygons giving it the authentic look of a military or aerospace simulator. Running on experimental Model 1 arcade technology, it was smooth and fluid, with a wide widescreen display for even greater immersion. This was the beginning of 3D driving games as we know them today.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Discover the Thrills of Prince of Persia: Lost Crown – Conquer a New Gaming Empire

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FA gigantic statue, frozen at the moment of destruction, is fixed above the entrance to Mount Kahu. In mid-autumn, fragments of shattered granite heads hang. In the castle’s intricate, trap-filled hallways, some characters haven’t aged a day in 100 years, while characters who arrived hours before you have already died of old age. Time does not follow normal rules in the Fortress’ cursed halls. If you want to complete Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, you’d better learn that lesson quickly.

These quirks of time lend themselves well to a game that reimagines and combines multiple generations of a series dating back to 1989. Developer Jordan Mechner’s original Prince of Persia was his 2D platformer that had you navigating a castle filled with fake floors, guillotines, and swords. -Swirl the guards around to fight the Grand Vizier. Meanwhile, in the hands of developer Ubisoft, later reimaginings of the series saw the titular hero gain the ability to control time, suspending and reversing time to solve puzzles in 3D worlds, and more. I was able to avoid the trap. With The Lost Crown, Ubisoft returns to the side-view perspective of early games while incorporating the time-lapse powers of later titles, creating a vast labyrinthine world littered with enemies and traps to overcome. is created.

Labyrinth…Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Photo: Ubisoft

You play Sargon, one of Persia’s legendary defenders, as you hunt down Prince Ghassan and his captors. You follow the group up to Cuff Mountain. The kidnappers aim to force the prince to abdicate there. You must reach the prince before they do. Sargon can jump through holes, swing from pillar to pillar, and jump between the walls of narrow shafts to climb the levels of the Calf, but even this athletic ability only allows him access to a small portion of the fortress. In many cases, you will be faced with gaps that are too large. Ledges too high to jump, ledges too high to grab, locked doors too far to attack with your sword. But as you discover the secrets of the mountain and defeat more bosses, you learn how to run through the air, double jump, and fix your body to a point in space from which you can teleport back. Combine these powers and you’ll be able to perform intricate aerial acrobatics and explore all-new districts of Calf.

The Lost Crown is a reimagining of Prince of Persia as a Metroidvania, and the series feels at home in the genre’s ever-expanding universe. You repeat the same areas of the map over and over again, discovering new secrets in old rooms thanks to the powers you acquire. Treasure chests that were previously out of reach will fall into your hands, locked doors will open before your eyes, and bosses that were too fast or too strong will also become vulnerable to your attacks.

That said, The Lost Crown has a tough difficulty curve, with later platforming sections and bosses requiring you to memorize tough attack patterns and develop the reflexes to pull off complex combinations of jumps, dodges, and parries. is required. Hitting these skill walls can be a frustrating experience, especially in a game where the joy comes from putting together uninterrupted acrobatics and combos of attacks.

However, the moment you encounter a frustrating blocker, you can explore other parts of the calf. Finding new power usually opens up opportunities across the mountain, not just one area. You can also upgrade Sargon’s weapons to make them more powerful, purchase health potion upgrades, and change the configuration of your amulet. These unlockable items allow you to enhance your hero’s abilities, for example increasing his health when he is at low health or reducing the damage he takes from poison attacks. If you find a boss that you can’t defeat, it’s comforting to know that you can make the fight easier by replacing some of the amulets you bring into battle.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is not a sequel or prequel to other games, but a new journey for the series, and its first step is a leap of faith. Not only are the most notable elements of the series’ various iterations (setting, traps, time forces, combat) all naturalized in this new form, but they are also the best of the newly selected games. That means you can play it like one of the games. This genre is as good a game as Metroid Dread or Hollow Knight, not an imitation of them. It’s been 13 years since the last completely new Prince of Persia game. If this is a new direction, I’m excited to see where it lands.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be released on PC, PS4/5, Switch and Xbox platforms on January 18th for £50.

Source: www.theguardian.com

FBI Probes Falsified Tweets Creating Artificial Rise in Bitcoin Investment Fund Prices

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday that it is working with the FBI to investigate fake messages posted to the X social media account.

On Tuesday, hackers posted false news about an incident. A widely anticipated announcement SEC expected to announce on Bitcoin, leading the crypto world soaring prices and wary observers. An SEC spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian in a statement that the fraudulent posts to the @SECGov account were “not initiated or created by the SEC.”

“The SEC continues to investigate this matter and is coordinating with appropriate law enforcement agencies, including the SEC Office of Inspector General and the FBI,” the spokesperson said. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

X confirmed late Tuesday, following a preliminary investigation, that the SEC's account was compromised when an unidentified person gained control through a third party and via a phone number associated with the account.

An erroneous post on @SECGov said securities regulators had approved holding Bitcoin in exchange-traded funds. The widely anticipated move was expected to bring Bitcoin more mainstream integration and encourage investment – and the initial SEC tweet sent Bitcoin's price soaring nearly $48,000.

The SEC removed the post about 30 minutes after it was posted, and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said: Confirmed In a post shortly after, it said the agency's account had been compromised and the tweet was “fraudulent.” “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange products,” he said.

But on Wednesday, the S.E.C. Approving 11 Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds. This approval is a game-changer for Bitcoin, allowing institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency without directly owning Bitcoin, allowing FTX CEO Sam's massive This is a major boost for the cryptocurrency industry, which has been plagued by a series of scandals, including trials and convictions. Money laundering between Bankman Freed and cryptocurrency giant Binance.

“Retail investors seeking exposure to Bitcoin now have easier and more direct access to their assets through many top financial institutions,” said Digital Commerce, a cryptocurrency and blockchain advocacy organization. said Perianne Bowling, founder and CEO of the Chamber. “This alone is a transformational event for hundreds of millions of investors and the Bitcoin community.”

Reuters contributed to this article

Source: www.theguardian.com

OpenAI Introduces GPT Store for Buying and Selling Customized Chatbots: AI Innovation

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OpenAI launched GPT Store on Wednesday, providing a marketplace for paid ChatGPT users to buy and sell professional chatbot agents based on the company’s language model.

The company, known for its popular product ChatGPT, already offers customized bots through its paid ChatGPT Plus service. The new store will give users additional tools to monetize.


With new models, users can develop chatbot agents with unique personalities and themes, including models for salary negotiation, lesson plan creation, recipe development, and more. OpenAI stated in a blog post that more than 3 million custom versions of ChatGPT have been created, and they plan to introduce new GPT tools in the store every week.

The GPT Store has been likened to Apple’s App Store, serving as a platform for new AI developments to reach a wider audience. Meta offers similar chatbot services with different personalities.

Originally set to open in November, the GPT Store’s launch was delayed due to internal issues within OpenAI. The company has announced plans to introduce a revenue sharing program in the first quarter of this year, compensating builders based on user engagement with GPT.

The store is accessible to subscribers of the premium ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise services, as well as a new subscription tier called Team, which costs $25 per user per month. Team subscribers can also create custom GPTs tailored to their team’s needs.

During the first demo day for developers, Altman offered to cover legal costs for developers who might violate copyright laws when creating products based on ChatGPT and OpenAI’s technology. OpenAI itself has faced lawsuits for alleged copyright infringement related to its use of copyrighted text to train large-scale language models.

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s flagship product, launched quietly in November 2022 and quickly gained 100 million users. The company also creates Dall-E, an image generation software, but it’s unclear whether the store will allow custom image bots or entirely bespoke chatbots.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Biden administration allocates $623 million to enhance electric vehicle charging infrastructure, White House reports

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President Joe Biden’s administration has announced $623 million in funding to increase electric vehicle charging points in the U.S. amid concerns that the transition to zero-carbon transportation is not keeping pace with goals to tackle the climate crisis.


The money will be distributed as grants to dozens of programs across 22 states, including EV chargers for multifamily housing in New Jersey, fast chargers in Oregon, and hydrogen fuel chargers for cargo trucks in Texas. In total, funds pulled from the bipartisan infrastructure law are expected to add his 7,500 chargers across the United States.

“We’re building the charging network to win the EV race,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

“The electric vehicle revolution is not coming, it is here. I very personally recognize the importance of the fact that America led the world in the automobile revolution. We’re in the middle of a second automotive revolution, and it’s important that America has one again.”

There are about 170,000 electric vehicle chargers in the U.S., a significant increase from a network that was nearly invisible before Biden took office, and the White House is helping the transition away from gasoline and diesel vehicles. The company has set a goal of selling 500,000 chargers.

Biden’s climate change adviser, Ali Zaidi, said that “America is leading the way globally on electric vehicles” and that the U.S. is on track to “meet and exceed” the administration’s charger goals. He said there was. He added: “This expansion will continue over the coming years and decades until we reach net zero in the transport sector.”

Sales of electric vehicles are growing in the United States, with more than 1 million EVs sold for the first time last year, accounting for 9% of all car sales. But that rate of growth has slowed somewhat, with companies like Ford, General Motors and even Tesla scaling back their EV ambitions in recent months.

U.S. motorists are faced with an ever-expanding selection of EVs, but most are still more expensive than their gasoline equivalents, meaning they are out of reach for many buyers. research has discovered The median household income for EV buyers is $186,000.

Research shows that nearly one-third of potential EV buyers discount their purchase due to lack of charging infrastructure, despite accounting for most of the total vehicle trips in the United States. Masu. 3 miles or less. Even if Biden’s goal of 500,000 chargers is met, this is far fewer than is needed to support a gradual transition away from polluting cars. Estimate It is predicted that more than 28 million chargers will be needed by 2030.

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“In the U.S., EV penetration is growing at almost twice the rate of charger installations,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of J.D. Power’s electric vehicle business. said last year. “Construction of new charging stations is not keeping up with demand.”

Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced nearly $1 billion in grants to replace diesel-powered school buses with electric and low-emission vehicles. EPA will disburse the funds to 280 school districts serving 7 million children nationwide. Charging infrastructure is also an issue in efforts to phase out diesel buses.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Ai Weiwei believes that art which can be effortlessly reproduced by AI is lacking in meaning.

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Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei believes that art that can be easily replicated by artificial intelligence is “meaningless.” He argues that even great artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse would have had to reconsider their approach if AI had existed in their time.

Ai Weiwei’s views are part of the ongoing debate on the rise of AI, where data from artists’ websites is used to create “original” images in their style by AI.

There have been multiple class-action lawsuits filed in the US by artists whose aesthetics are popular among users of AI, with reports of thousands of images being used without permission.

Ai Weiwei expressed his concern about the focus on creating “realistic” images in art education, which he believes is rendered meaningless by AI’s ability to replicate them in seconds.

When asked whether this also applied to masters with distinct styles such as cubism, Ai Weiwei answered that “If Picasso or Matisse were still alive, they would surely quit their jobs. It would be impossible for them to still think [the same way].” He also discussed his upcoming collaboration with an AI to answer the same list of 81 questions over 81 days, a project referencing the number of days he was incarcerated by the Chinese state in 2011.

The artist also expressed concern about a future where artificial intelligence becomes so powerful that it leads to a society with only one “right” answer to significant questions, likening it to dangerous historical ideologies.

Ai Weiwei, who grew up in a forced labor camp in northwest China and has been an outspoken critic of Chinese authorities, believes in the importance of asking difficult questions as an artist, despite the potential repercussions.

He explained that it is the responsibility of artists to speak out for those without a voice and emphasized the importance of seeking inner truth through their work. Despite the risks, he remains committed to his mission of asking challenging questions and challenging those in power.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Top Podcast of the Week: Exploring the Metropolitan Police Department’s Largest Crime Bust

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This week’s picks

football greats
Wide range of weekly episodes available
Was Ian Wright a better footballer than Alan Shearer? How do players communicate with foreign teams who only know the word “Bobby Charlton”? Geoff Stelling discusses these questions with guests including Paul Merson, Glenn Hoddle and Sir Geoff Hurst. In the first episode, Stelling reunites with Soccer Saturday partner Chris Kamara and relives many fond memories, including the origin of that iconic “I can’t believe it, Jeff!” Catchphrase. Hannah Verdier

Blindspot: Plague in the Shadows
Wide range of weekly episodes available
This podcast focuses on New York, where misinformation and misinformation were rife in the early days of the HIV epidemic. WNYC’s Kai Wright has been a reporter on the ground since 1996, and is not critical of how people in need are denied access to medical care. Dr. Anthony Fauci was among those interviewed, along with activists from the 1980s. HV

On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. Photo: Mandel Gunn/AFP/Getty Images

capture the kingpin
BBC Sounds, weekly episodes
If you enjoy a podcast filled with drug dealing, corruption, and encrypted phone networks, then this six-part show about the Metropolitan Police’s biggest organized crime bust is for you. As host Mobeen Azhar puts it, the story becomes “increasingly shocking” as we uncover inside stories from the squad that infiltrated key figures in the criminal organization. HV

less is better
Episodes will be widely available weekly starting Sunday, January 14th
Is it better for your health to eat high-quality meat or eat less meat? This month, promoting vegan curiosity and positive health messages, Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham explore what it’s like to raise and slaughter animals, and how culture and education influence people’s preferences. Find out whether it is easy to give and buy good things. HV

January 6: America’s Story
Wide range of weekly episodes available
As we mark the third anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Capitol and with Donald Trump set to become the next Republican nominee, Our Body Politics on the people of color who helped lead the committee investigation on January 6th is an insightful series. They talk about their experiences, starting with why they chose to protect a country that doesn’t always protect them. Holly Richardson

There’s a podcast for that

Oprah Winfrey speaks on Oprah’s “2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour. Photo: Steve Jennings/Getty Images

this week, Rachel Aroesti Our picks for the 5 best podcasts featuring true storyfrom a chronicle of LGBT heroes to the remarkable rise of Oprah Winfrey.

unusual life
Truth is always stranger than fiction, this fascinating series from the BBC World Service delicately unearths some of the most remarkable stories of human endeavor. I am amazed at the determination of Tariq Mehmood, one of the bradford 12, He was arrested as a young man for trying to protect himself from skinhead violence and became a novelist. In the drama “Prison His Break'' Jaibet uses his knowledge of Papua to escape from an inhumane immigration camp in New Guinea as he is overwhelmed by Nous of Elom. And just as amazed by the courage of Laura Dekker, who decided to travel around the world alone at the age of 13 (much to the surprise of the Dutch authorities).

making gay history
Journalist Eric Marcus established himself as a leading authority on 20th century gay life with his award-winning 1992 book Making History. In this moving podcast, he revisits his extensive archive of interviews to allow key figures in the LGBT rights movement to tell their own stories. Celebrities like early transgender activist Sylvia Rivera, playwright Larry Kramer, and television host Ellen DeGeneres, as well as lesser-known figures whose activism has made the world a safer place for queer people. I’ll listen to you.

CEO diary
Money can’t buy happiness. And just because you make millions doesn’t automatically mean you’re considered an inspirational person. But it’s also true that entrepreneur Stephen Bartlett’s hit interview podcast frequently serves as motivational rocket fuel. Since 2017, Bartlett has relentlessly questioned business leaders about their childhoods, work habits, and the philosophies they live by, unearthing practical, life-changing advice for his listeners. Since then, he has expanded his remit to include headline-grabbing celebrities including Davina McCall, Maisie Williams, Liam Payne, and Jesse Lingard.

hidden heroes of history
From energetic secret agent Virginia Hall and her epic prison escape to Surrey banker Eric Roberts’ hunt for Nazi sympathizers, this thrilling podcast narrated by Helena Bonham Carter explores perseverance from the second world. Relive some of the most amazing feats and stories of damnation. war. Along with stories of spies, we hear about the remarkable artistic resistance of Claude Cahan and Marcel Moore, and the pioneering feminism of Major Charity Adams, the first black officer to serve in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.

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Amazon lays off hundreds of employees from Twitch and Prime Video

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According to an internal memo sent Wednesday, Amazon is planning to lay off hundreds of employees across streaming and studio operations. The announcement coincided with Twitch, a subsidiary of the e-commerce giant, revealing that it would lay off approximately 35% of its workforce, or around 500 people.

Last year, Amazon cut more than 27,000 jobs as part of its U.S. tech job cuts, marking a departure from the industry’s hiring surge during the pandemic. Facebook and Microsoft each laid off 10,000 employees, while Google cut 12,000 jobs last year.

Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, informed employees that, “As we increase our investments, we will also identify opportunities to reduce or eliminate investments in specific areas to make the most impact, allowing us to focus on content and product initiatives.”

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy acknowledged in a blog post that the company had grown too big based on optimism for faster expansion of the business. “There remains work to do to right-size the company,” Clancy wrote, citing that the size of the organization had been projected optimistically based on future growth rather than its current state.

In recent years, Amazon has been aggressively investing in its media business, including an $8.5 billion deal with MGM and the 2022 release of The Lord of the Rings on Prime Video. The company has also spent approximately $465 million on the first season of “The Power of Power.” Additionally, Amazon plans to run ads on Prime Video in certain markets and introduce a pricier ad-free subscription tier, similar to moves made by competitors like Netflix and Disney.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Utilizing Cloud Technology as the Building Blocks for AI: Driving Business Innovation with Azure

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The cloud has transformed the way the world operates, yet it doesn’t always receive the recognition it deserves for enabling valuable digital experiences.

Businesses of all sizes, including companies like ASOS powered by Microsoft Azure cloud platform, leverage cloud technology to power their operations and deliver customized customer experiences.

One of the most impactful aspects of cloud technology is its ability to democratize access to computing power, allowing disruptors and innovators to enter new industries.

Tosca Colangeli, general manager at Microsoft UK, emphasizes that the cloud makes digital transformation accessible, enabling businesses to scale as needed and disrupt traditional industries.

Cloud technology grants businesses access to computing power over the Internet, eliminating the need for private physical servers on their premises. It also provides enhanced security and flexibility, allowing for tailored resource allocation and disaster recovery.

As much as you use
Colangeli highlights the importance of paying for resources as needed, allowing businesses to adapt to peak trading periods and manage disaster recovery efficiently.

Cloud flexibility has revolutionized business operations and innovation, especially in the face of the rapid changes driven by AI.

ChatGPT took 2 months”

According to Gartner, global cloud spending is projected to account for over 45% of total enterprise IT spending by 2026.

In light of the increasing demand for cloud and AI services, businesses must embrace the cloud as the cornerstone of their operations and embed it within their organizational culture.

Colangeli emphasizes the need for businesses to focus on data as a top priority, as the success of AI is heavily reliant on quality, accessible data.

Additionally, using AI responsibly and adopting a flexible, adaptable approach will be crucial for businesses to stay competitive in the evolving technological landscape.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

Innovate with Azure: 5 ways developers’ lives are made easier with cloud tools

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There is an interesting and appropriate “spot the difference” Microsoft Visual Studio An advertisement that used to be published in a computing magazine.

On the left side of the image is the desk of an “unhappy” software developer. It's midnight now. Under the gaze of a single desk lamp, mangled piles of paper litter the scene, and yellow sticky notes dangle from a computer screen.

The right side shows the desk of a “happy” software developer. It's clean and tidy, you have a calendar full of social events, and it's a sunny day outside.

The message was clear. It means that developers will feel less stressed if they use his C++, a popular programming language that allows them to develop software regardless of the platform.

Almost two decades later, technology has advanced, but software developers still face many of the same challenges. How do you handle the entire lifecycle of creating a product for your customers, from designing the software to making sure it works and is secure? , to deployment and maintenance of the finished product?

Scaling up and down is smooth
Cloud platforms greatly simplify developers' lives, from planning, writing, editing, and debugging code to delivering it live to customers, even when they don't know what the final requirements will look like. .

Previously, software companies delivered applications and services to customers and then had to guess how much infrastructure was needed to support product delivery and maintenance.

This problem can be further exacerbated by the fact that customers may be struggling to meet highly fluctuating demand from end users.

Azure's scalable cloud platform solves this problem by hosting your software and automatically scaling it as demand increases or decreases, allowing you to focus on what you do best: software development. .

Consider the following case live tech games (LTG) etc. The company was faced with the challenge of supporting 10,000 users simultaneously playing a live football tournament multiplayer mobile game online, a number he needed to increase to 500,000.

“During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in partnership with ITV, we ran over 30 live tournament games with thousands of players competing simultaneously, and thanks to Azure, everything went perfectly. ” says the LTG co-founder. Co-CEO Samuel Worsley.

Develop and debug all in one place
Software development is a complex process. Especially when there are many cooks involved and everyone, including the boss, has different ideas about what coding language the software should be written in.

“If you like working in one programming language and your colleague likes working in another, that's not a problem with Visual Studio,” says Microsoft UK Head of Digital and Application Innovation, Data and Artificial Intelligence. Director Denise Dourado said. .

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment that allows developers to write, edit, and debug code in one place instead of moving from tool to tool.

“Without Visual Studio, you end up designing code in one place and having to debug it in another place. It takes time,” says Dourado.

The worst thing for developers, she says, is that when they switch from one tool to another, they worry about what will happen to their code, making the development process take a long time.

Audit software is easy
You've built your software, but now you need to deploy and maintain it, which can be a huge headache.Here is Azure DevOp Services Come in.

Azure DevOps can be used collaboratively by multiple people to track changes made to software source code and release them to customers in a live environment.

In addition, at a time of global economic uncertainty, there is a real need to reduce costs and improve efficiency while providing added value to customers whose businesses are undergoing significant digital transformation.

Mobile phone company Vodafone realized that it had too many computer systems within the company and many different code repositories for all of its software. Some control systems relied on Word documents to manually track source code changes.

“At the time, we could automatically roll back a deployment to see specifically which line of code caused the problem, link to the developer, and see why we did something like that. It took us a long time to be able to do that,” says Ben Connolly. Head of Digital Engineering at Vodafone.

“it has been Revolutionize with the power of Azure DevOps. It's all pipeline now, and it's much more auditable than what we had before. ”

Improved productivity
Artificial intelligence (AI) is also increasingly helping developers solve pain points. GitHub, the world's largest code repository and social software development community, leverages AI in the following ways: GitHub Copilot.

“GitHub Copilot provides enhanced features for developers, including suggesting code improvements, identifying common coding errors, and helping developers understand the codebase faster, especially for developers new to the project. ,” adds Dourado.

According to GitHub, 46% of new code is now written by AI, overall developer productivity has increased by 55%, and 75% of developers on the platform are looking to be more creative with their software development. They report that they are now able to concentrate on specific areas.

Software development has been democratized
Microsoft wants to take things a step further by “democratizing” the IT industry and making it possible for people without a software development background to build software, Dourado said. “We're bringing in users from the business environment and allowing them to build programs without necessarily understanding code,” she added.

for example, Azure cognitive services You can automate document processing, improve customer service, understand the root causes of anomalies, and extract insights from content.

“The world of technology is constantly changing, especially around things like AI, and if you are a developer, it may not be your core skill. We’re trying to make it possible to leverage AI without spending months or years,” says Dourado.

“What's important to me is that I don't have to struggle to learn new technology and have more freedom to be creative and take advantage of the features of the application.”


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Source: www.theguardian.com

Unlocking the Power of Your Business Data: 4 Ways Azure Cloud Drives Employee Engagement and Customer Insights

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As organizations move their computing infrastructure to the cloud, they are harnessing the power of data like never before. Cloud-based services use artificial intelligence (AI) to make data easier to access, search, and understand. Instead of data being the property of a team of data scientists and analysts, new cloud-based tools and technologies are opening up this area of expertise to a wider range of employees across the organization.

Leighton Searle, director of Azure Solutions UK at Microsoft, believes there are significant benefits for businesses running their IT infrastructure. microsoft azure cloud platform. “The huge potential of new generative AI technologies has placed a renewed emphasis on the quality and availability of data in organizations,” he says. When companies move their data to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, they can instantly access tools and services to unlock their value for both employees and customers. This will lead to culture change and deeper embedding of data throughout the business.

Searle identifies four areas where the cloud is accelerating the use of data, empowering employees, and increasing productivity.

1 Empower employees to make data-driven decisions
Searle emphasized that the cloud is helping to democratize data, allowing employees to access data directly in their daily workflows, rather than being locked into administrative reports or separate line-of-business applications. Masu. “To unlock the value of data and realize its potential, data must be accessible to the people who need it,” Searle said. “It provides contact center agents with a scannable overview of all previous customer interactions, transactions, and support calls, as well as instant access to a company-wide knowledge base of specialized information for world-class That could mean providing a better customer experience or enabling mobile mechanics to meet customer needs. Identifying parts and inventory status from a photo taken with a mobile phone.”

Almost every role can benefit from timely, secure and relevant data, Searle says. When staff become responsible for managing data related to their role, they need tools to simplify the process. Data visualization tools help employees create simple representations of data to glean insights and improve customer experiences.For example, Heathrow Airport Microsoft Power BI Use data visualization tools through Microsoft Teams to transform data from management systems into visualizations that are easy for staff to read. These allow employees to see at a glance how airport passenger numbers are changing in real time. Prepare your staff for the peaks and troughs rather than just reacting to them.

2 Breaking down data silos
To achieve a higher degree of data democracy, data must be made available throughout the organization, rather than being locked away in a central repository. “With the right guidance, governance, and guardrails in place, you can enable the rest of your business and provide access to the data you need,” Searle says.

For example, a group of five south London boroughs formed the South London Partnership; Linked with Azure Build a universal data platform. This includes sharing data from “Internet of Things” (IoT) sensors monitoring at-risk populations, and he estimates the partnership has already saved four lives. I am. IoT sensors also monitor air quality and flood risk. “The ability of cloud technology to share data while maintaining data rights and privacy has allowed us to break down data silos,” Searle says.

3 Building AI and modern search to accelerate your business
Customer and employee expectations have changed as AI-driven experiences play a larger role in daily life. Along with a good data foundation and a good data culture, these experiences are quickly becoming critical to both employee and customer retention. Employees can use internal apps to search for data and access historical information in “structured” tables and graphs or in “unstructured” formats from documents, images, and other sources. You need to dig deep into your knowledge.

Mr. Searle points out that: Azure cognitive search The platform and Azure Open AI service allow users to type common natural language queries into the search bar. This is processed by an AI-powered system that looks at all data sources and returns a natural language summary from the most relevant sources. Used for validation or further research. He says this type of his AI-driven experience will help companies derive insights and make data-driven decisions intuitively and at unprecedented speed.

For example, Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust moved its computing infrastructure to the cloud and used Azure Cognitive Search to Make patient records easier to search By the clinician. The trust has uploaded all records to Azure. The records included all kinds of unstructured data, including handwritten notes, doctor's notes, scanned images, and photographs.

Clinicians said they were “blown away” to learn that Azure Cognitive Search enabled them to discover these diverse formats, allowing them to quickly find handwritten notes and records from the previous year.

4 Building a data-driven culture
From frontline workers to boardroom executives, all employees should be open to incorporating data into the way they work, Searle says. He believes they can all learn from and contribute to enriching the data that flows through them. Employees who are involved in managing their own data are also better placed to reduce the risk of bias and incorrect assumptions in data-driven decision-making.

Searle believes that democratizing data requires a significant change in corporate culture. Departments across the organization, such as human resources, marketing, operations, sales, and finance, play a critical role in the data they generate and consume. For example, business users of organizational data are in the best position to set data security and access policies and manage the data so that it can be used with confidence by other parts of the business.

The pace of change can be daunting for leaders at all levels. To help organizations upskill, Microsoft has partnered with European business school Insead to AI Business School.

Searle outlines the steps businesses need to take to get the most out of their data. “We securely bring data into the Microsoft cloud. We lead from the top to build a data-driven culture across the organization and move quickly to projects that deliver business value. This positive experience ripples throughout the business, and this It will help us incorporate data-driven approaches to further scale.”

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Source: www.theguardian.com

Innovate with Azure: 5 Key Factors to Ensure Your Business’ Cloud Platform is Future-Proof

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The world is on the brink of a productivity revolution

The world is on the brink of a productivity revolution, as artificial intelligence (AI) creates a new wave of opportunity for businesses of all sizes. Whether it’s using chatbots, more advanced AI, uncovering deeper insights into customer needs, or speeding up product development, you’re missing out on the improved outcomes that AI can bring. No company wants that. For some organizations, generative AI tools are emerging, such as: Chat GPT and Daruiis increasingly making business cases for adopting AI strategies to generate content and images. But while business leaders want to maximize the benefits of technology, they also need to understand the broader responsibilities that come with it (including considerations around data privacy, unintentional bias, copyright infringement, etc.) and how to do so. You also need to. Most of the opportunities are rapidly evolving. To help board executives and IT leaders drive success with their AI strategies, Michael Wignall, director of infrastructure for Microsoft’s Azure Business Customer Success unit, recommends what leaders need to do before leveraging AI. Here are the first five steps you should take.

1. Make AI part of a broader cloud computing strategy

First and foremost, Wignall says companies should consider working with established technology providers. AI works best when it’s part of a broader cloud computing strategy. This means IT operations are outsourced to an outside company that operates the data center. Microsoft Azure he says. “AI is born in the cloud. To take advantage of this wave of innovation, you need to be in the cloud,” he added. He points to his three main components of AI: computing power, data, and algorithms, all of which are best provided through cloud services. He believes companies should adopt a “cloud-native” approach, where the entire AI infrastructure is built on a cloud platform. Such an approach offers many benefits, including: Reduce costs by paying only for the resources you use, rather than maintaining and updating expensive on-premises equipment. Flexibility and scalability. Customers can easily add or remove resources as needed. Access to enhanced security tools. This allows you to better detect, assess, and alert on threats to your customers’ data. As with cloud data, you can easily back up your data and quickly restore it in the event of a failure or disaster.

2. Find the data

Next, businesses need to have a solid understanding of where their data resides within their organization and move it to cloud platforms. The success of AI depends on analyzing relevant data at scale. To fine-tune AI for best performance, AI should be powered by your company’s own data from customer lists, inventory, sales information, financial data, and other key data. “It’s important to make sure your data platform and data strategy is the best it can be, and that you know where your data is and how to access it,” he said.

3. Protect your data

Once the cloud infrastructure is in place and the associated data has been migrated, the next critical step is to secure that data. With all of a company’s important data in one place (the cloud), it’s important to have peace of mind in the presence of multiple threats, such as hackers. “Make sure you’re protected with best-in-class security features, clearly defined policies and governance around who can access your data, and the ability to audit how your data is handled,” he said.

4. Decide which functions and tasks to use AI for

Once the infrastructure, data, and security are in place, companies can move on to determining the best uses for AI, such as automating office processes, extracting insights from data, and handling copywriting and a variety of other tasks. Masu. For the past five years, general AI has provided so-called “cognitive services” such as data analysis and product recommendations. Generative AI takes technology to a new level. With a few keystrokes, users can create content such as reports, ads, images, copy, automated emails, and personalized user connections. Generative AI can also analyze large volumes of documents, call center logs, and financial results and summarize information with short precision.

5. Implement a responsible AI policy

Once a company takes these steps, it is ready to deploy an AI strategy. However, before launching, companies should ensure they have responsible AI policies in place across the board. Businesses ensure that AI is free from embedded bias, that there is good governance around its use, that AI is used ethically, and that there are no unintended or undesirable consequences is needed. Microsoft provides responsible AI policy guidance and provides tools to check for bias, ensure inappropriate data is filtered out, and perform sentiment checks to scrutinize output. Ultimately, however, it is essential that companies ensure they have responsible AI policies in place. While many organizations are just beginning their AI journey, Wignall summarizes the mindset companies should adopt when considering AI: Partnership is key. Cloud is the key. Prioritize the business benefits that matter to your organization. And start today.


Source: www.theguardian.com

Apple Ex-Employee’s iPhone Keyboard Hack Simplifies Screen Use

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Here are some easy ways to impress the people at Genius Bar. A former Apple employee shares an easy-to-do keyboard hack that makes inputting numbers, especially numbers, smoother for users. In TikTok clip Viewed 17 million times technologist-turned-musician Tyler Morgan shows off features hidden in plain sight that allow you to do things like numeric keyboard shortcuts. He also introduced a fun “Harry Potter” command that Siri uses to turn the flashlight on and off. Just say “Lumos” (a Hogwarts spell that creates light on the tip of a wizard’s wand, etc.) and your iPhone’s flashlight will turn on. Conversely, if you say “Knox,” the light on your wand will go out and your flashlight will magically go out. Users can also ask Siri to identify songs playing in the background. Morgan said in another video additionally proven We recommend taking a screenshot of the entire web page, not just a portion of what’s on your screen. After you take a shot, there is an option to create and save a PDF in the top right part of your iPhone screen. Just tap Entire Page on the right side of the Screen tab. Keyboard hacks to try today Here are some easy iPhone keyboard hacks that are worth trying. AFP (via Getty Images) A simple and very effective way to enable Caps Lock on your iPhone keyboard is to double-tap the uppercase up arrow symbol. This will allow you to type uppercase letters until you turn the feature off. If you press and hold a letter, you can easily see different versions of the accented letter on top of the letter without having to install an international keyboard. Morgan’s tips also include a convenient way to display the numeric keyboard and automatically revert to the alphabet keys after use. Just press and hold the “123” tab in the bottom left corner while viewing the alphabet. When you enter a number, the screen temporarily changes to a numeric keypad, and when you release “123” it returns to letters. Here are some easy ways to get the most out of your iPhone’s keyboard. Dear Grease – Stock.adobe.com Also, if you accidentally press and hold the wrong number or symbol, keep your finger on the screen and slide it to change it to the number or symbol you actually want. Another useful tip is that if you hold down the spacebar, the cursor will move freely and easily through large groups of text like a mouse.

Source: nypost.com

Technology companies express concerns over potential “irreparable harm” due to White House-backed sales suspension of Apple Watch | Science and Technology News

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Apple expressed concerns about potential “irreparable harm” after the White House backed a ban on imports of certain watches due to a dispute over blood oxygen technology.

The tech giant has submitted an emergency motion to the court, seeking permission to continue selling two popular models, the Series 9 and Ultra 2, until the patent dispute with medical monitoring tech company Masimo is resolved.

Apple has requested the ban to be temporarily lifted until U.S. Customs determines whether a redesigned version of its watch infringes Masimo’s patents, with a decision expected on January 12th.

Masimo has accused Apple of stealing pulse oximetry technology for monitoring blood oxygen levels and incorporating it into their watch, as well as luring some of its employees to switch to Apple.

The US ITC has ordered a ban on the import and sale of models utilizing blood oxygen level reading technology.

Wealth management analyst Dan Ives stated that the halt in watch sales before the holiday season could cost Apple $300-400 million, but the company is still expected to make nearly $120 billion in sales for the quarter, including the holiday period.

Read more:
– Have an old iPhone? You could be entitled to compensation in a UK court case
– Apple updates iPhone 12 software after radiation test

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai upheld the ITC’s decision, but previously purchased Apple Watches with blood oxygen measurement capabilities are not affected by the ban.

Apple contests the ITC’s decision, claiming it is based on factual errors and that Masimo does not sell significant quantities of competing products in the U.S., and would not be harmed by a ban on orders.

Source: news.sky.com

Bluesky introduces new in-app video and music player, along with ‘hide posts’ feature

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Decentralized social network Bluesky roll out New in-app video and music player for links and new ‘hide post’ feature. New additions bring Bluesky user experience closer to X (Twitter).

The new video and music player works with YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, and Twitch embeds. Unlike X, where video autoplay is the default setting, Bluesky’s in-app player does not autoplay content. When users tune in to see or hear content, they must tap to trigger the content.

As for the new “Hide Post” feature, you can click it if you see something you don’t want to see again. The post will be removed from your feed and “if you access it directly, it will be placed behind a mask,” Bruski said.

In addition to these new features, Bluesky has fixed a bug that caused the list of muted and blocked accounts to appear as empty. This social network has also fixed his bug that caused an empty home screen and crashes that sometimes occurred while interacting with threads.

Today’s announcement comes just days after Bluesky finally allowed users to view posts on the platform without logging in. You still need an invitation to create an account and start posting, but you can read posts through a link. The move will allow publishers to link to Bluesky’s posts and embed them in their blogs. Additionally, users can now share her Bluesky posts in their individual or group chats.

Bluesky released iOS and Android apps in February and reached 2 million users last month. Bluesky is currently the only instance on the AT protocol, but is aiming for federation “early next year.” This means that it will ultimately function as a more open social network like Mastodon, where users can choose which servers they join and navigate to. You can freely operate your account.

Source: techcrunch.com

Apple Vision Pro Expected to Launch between Late January and Early February

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We’ve known about the Vision Pro for more than six months now (not to mention it’s been rumored for years), but Apple’s first “spatial computing” device is expected to arrive in consumer electronics heading into the new year. One of the biggest question marks. The $3,499 headset was given an “early 2024” release date when it was announced at WWDC in June, but the company hasn’t provided further specifics since then.

Apple oracle Ming-Chi Kuo Provided an early holiday gift He narrowed down the system’s release date to “late January to early February.” According to the analyst, the first Vision Pro will be shipped to Apple within about a month, bringing the total number of units shipped this year to about 500,000 units.

Company’s accurate target There are still open-ended questions remaining for this year. About a month after the device was announced, it was reported that Apple had reduced its forecast from around 1 million units to “less than 400,000 units.”

Even the latest figure of 500,000 is small for a company of Apple’s enormous size and influence. Keep in mind that the company should ship more than 200 million iPhones this calendar year.

But Vision Pro is widely considered to be Tim Cook’s biggest challenge in his 12 years as CEO. Not only is this an entirely new category and form factor for the company, but it’s also an exorbitant price point, even for customers accustomed to paying extra for Apple products. Add to that the fact that VR has not lived up to expectations for decades, and we have a big uphill battle ahead.

Kuo calls Vision Pro “Apple’s most important product in 2024.” That’s a tough statement to argue with, given years of speculation and all the time and money the company has undoubtedly poured into the headset.

Source: techcrunch.com

US Ban on Apple Watch Upheld

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The recent US ban on Apple Watch imports will continue even after the Biden administration takes office. refused to exercise the right of veto Previous rulings by the International Trade Commission. The ITC’s ruling takes effect today.

The company previously halted sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in anticipation of the ban, suspending online sales on December 21 and in-store sales three days later.

A statement released this morning by the Office of the United States Trade Representative said: [Katherine] Mr. Tai decided not to overturn the ITC’s decision, and the ITC’s decision became final on December 26, 2023. ”

Apple firmly refuted the two patent infringement claims behind the ban by health tech company Masimo. In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Apple promised to continue fighting this decision while touting the device’s healthcare features.

At Apple, we’re passionate about creating products and services that have a meaningful impact on people’s lives. That’s why our teams (clinical, design, and engineering) spend years developing scientifically validated health, fitness, and wellness features for Apple Watch that millions of people around the world benefit from. We are inspired by the tremendous benefits people are receiving from this product. We strongly disagree with the USITC’s decision and the resulting exclusion order, and are taking every step to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to U.S. customers as quickly as possible.

Apple also appealed this decision to the Federal Circuit. This decision stems from the light-based pulse oximetry sensor introduced in the Watch Series 6 in 2020. Masimo also accuses Apple of poaching employees to implement the technology in its smartwatch products.

In a statement released shortly after the ITC decision in October, Masimo founder and CEO Joe Chiani said: This important decision is a strong demonstration of our commitment to holding Apple accountable for its misappropriation of our patented technology. ”

Kiani has continued to attack the company in a series of interviews in recent weeks.

Although currently banned in the US, the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are still available for purchase outside the country. Meanwhile, the Watch SE continues to be sold in the US as more budget-oriented options don’t utilize the same sensor technology.

Source: techcrunch.com

National Amusements, owner of CBS and Paramount, alleges they were the victims of a cyber attack

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National Amusements, the movie theater chain and parent company of media giants Paramount and CBS, acknowledged that it had experienced a data breach in which hackers stole the personal information of tens of thousands of people.

The private media conglomerate said: Legally required filings with the Maine Attorney General Hackers allegedly stole the personal information of 82,128 people in a data breach in December 2022.

Details of the December 2022 breach were finally revealed a year after the company began notifying those affected last week.

The company discovered the breach several months later, in August 2023, according to Mayne’s notice, but did not specify what personal information was stolen. The hackers also stole financial information, such as bank account numbers and credit card numbers, in combination with associated security codes, passwords and confidential information, according to a data breach notification filed in the state of Maine.

The data breach notification was submitted by the company’s human resources director, so the stolen data may relate to the company’s employees.

But the media giant has said little else about the breach or whether the personal information of its customers and users is also affected. It is not clear what type of cyberattack the company suffered, or if it received a ransom demand or subsequently paid the hackers.

National Amusement spokeswoman Rachel Luray did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Spokespeople for CBS and Paramount also had no comment.

National Amusements owns more than 1,500 movie theaters across the United States, but the company is best known for its control of Paramount and CBS following the Viacom-CBS merger in 2019.

Paramount disclosed another security incident in August, according to Filings with Massachusetts Attorney General, an incident in which a hacker stole the personal information of an unspecified number of customers. The hackers also stole Paramount customers’ names and dates of birth, as well as Social Security numbers and other government-issued identification numbers, according to the notice.

Disclosure: Zack Whitaker worked at CBS before August 2018.

Source: techcrunch.com

Challenges Ahead for EV Fast Charging Networks in 2024

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sometime in 2024
Six electric vehicle charging companies will face liquidation, possibly as early as February.

For years they had little competition except for each other. But soon they’ll have to contend with Tesla’s acclaimed Supercharger network.

From a charging perspective, the EV world used to be split into two. There was Tesla, and then there were others. Tesla owners enjoyed widespread, fast and reliable charging. Other companies have managed to get by by combining accounts from different companies, but none can boast a reliability rating that comes close to Tesla’s.

Then, in May, the wall came down. Ford has signed a deal with Tesla that will give its EVs access to a subset of its network of 12,000 Superchargers. Starting in 2024, existing owners will be able to charge at these kiosks using adapters, and in 2025, future EVs will be able to upgrade their Combined Charging System (CCS) plugs to Tesla’s plugs, also known as the North American Charging Standard. Ford said it will be replaced by (NACS).

Other automakers quickly followed suit. Then GM, then Rivian, Volvo, Mercedes, nissan, and pretty much everyone else. One of his last companies to adopt this plug was Volkswagen. This is not surprising given Volkswagen’s majority ownership of Electrify America, which was supposed to be his CCS equivalent to the Supercharger Network.

EV owners like me had, and still have, high hopes for Electrify America. The company was founded out of the Volkswagen diesel settlement and was the first network outside of Tesla to prioritize nationwide DC fast charging at speeds that can support the latest EVs. When Electrify America’s best charger works, it’s actually fast, faster than most Tesla Superchargers.

Source: techcrunch.com

What Venture Capitalists Seek in Emerging Cybersecurity Startups

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casbar one A partner at Sapphire Ventures, he focuses primarily on security, enterprise infrastructure, and data and analytics.

In cybersecurity, AI is often stands for “already implemented”. Security vendors have leveraged AI-based technology to leverage existing knowledge databases to address talent shortages. As an investor focused on supporting expansion-stage B2B startups in the cybersecurity, AI, and DevOps space, he has recently invested in cybersecurity company Huntress and AI startup Weights & Biases. and cybersecurity companies, I feel fortunate to have a unique perspective on both. It is scheduled to take off after 2024.

From my perspective, organizations today face an uphill battle when it comes to securing their data and networks. Cyber ​​threats are becoming more frequent and severe as the potential attack surface grows and hackers organize increasingly sophisticated schemes. Thanks to the power of artificial intelligence (AI), malicious attackers are becoming more efficient, conducting more personalized attacks, and increasing their scale, resulting in billions of dollars in lost business. .

Meanwhile, organizations of all sizes are innovating new defenses at an astonishing rate, often leveraging advanced AI capabilities as well. Businesses are hungry for solutions that can further enhance their efforts. According to Gartner, global corporate security spending will reach an estimated $188 billion this year and is expected to rise to $215 billion by 2024. Security software spending is the IT area least likely to be cut during an economic downturn. morgan stanley.

The next wave of successful startups will help businesses leverage GenAI to prevent attacks while increasing organizational productivity.

Over the next year, we aim to partner with players to help cybersecurity teams increase productivity and address talent shortages while addressing growing threats.

What VCs are looking for in the next wave of cybersecurity startups

The emergence of large-scale language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT has created new opportunities for AI-driven innovation within the industry. Here are some of the features investors are looking for in the next successful cybersecurity startup.

Proactive approach to customer education

During the cloud computing revolution, many companies are rushing to implement cloud solutions, putting security on the back burner. This has allowed cybersecurity to catch up to some extent. So far, the opposite is true for generative AI (GenAI). Businesses are keen to reap the benefits of technology, but are very aware of the risks of compromising sensitive information and betraying customer trust. Concerns are growing after major data breaches occur at companies such as samsung. In response, many companies have been reluctant to launch GenAI initiatives, limiting usage to a small cohort or, in some cases, issuing blankets. prohibit.

Source: techcrunch.com

Hackers in 2023 stole $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, reveals data

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Over the course of another year, hackers stole billions of dollars in cryptocurrencies. However, the cryptocurrency security firm says it is on the decline for the first time since 2020.

According to Web3 security firm De.FI, hackers have stolen about $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in dozens of cyberattacks and thefts this year. Rekt leaderboard. The site ranks the worst crypto hacks of all time, from the 2022 Ronin network breach, in which hackers stole more than $600 million in crypto, to this year’s big-money hack of Mixin Network. It is attached. The hacker made about $200 million.

“This amount, while spread across a variety of incidents, highlights the persistent vulnerabilities and challenges within the DeFi ecosystem,” De.Fi said in the report, which the company reported on TechCrunch shared. “2023 was a year that demonstrated both the ongoing vulnerabilities and the progress made in addressing them, even though the first half of the year saw a relative lack of interest in the sector due to the bear market. .”

In early December, blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs also announced Announcing estimated value of stolen virtual currency By hackers this year. According to the company, the total amount as of mid-December was approximately $1.7 billion.

Other worst cryptocurrency thefts this year include the hack into Euler Finance, where hackers stole nearly $200 million. Also included were major hacks of Multichain ($126 million), BonqDAO ($120 million), Poloniex ($114 million), Atomic Wallet ($100 million), and more.

Last year, a blockchain monitoring company Chainalysis reported that cybercriminals stole an all-time record of approximately $3.8 billion In code. $1.7 billion of that was stolen by North Korean government hackers known as the Lazarus Group, one of the most prolific crypto theft groups, as part of efforts to fund the regime’s sanctioned nuclear weapons program. .

“It is no exaggeration to say that crypto hacking represents a significant portion of this country’s economy,” Chainalysis said in a report last year.

The previous year, in 2021, hackers stole $3.3 billion. According to Chainalysis,

It is impossible to predict what will happen in 2024. However, given the insufficient security implemented by many cryptocurrencies and Web3 projects and the enormous monetary value they hold, Discussed at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this yearit is expected that hackers will continue to target growing industries.

Source: techcrunch.com

The ongoing battle between open source and proprietary software

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Every time chaos breaks out Millions of people rely on this unique technology, and many people’s default reaction seems to be:Hey, let’s see what the open source world has to offer”

Case in point: the steady demise of X (Twitter) since Elon Musk took over last year has led many to look for more “open” alternatives, whether it’s Mastodon or Bluesky.

This scenario will become familiar throughout 2023, as established technologies that millions of people rely on reach a chaotic curve, and how indebted people become to proprietary platforms over which they have little control. now recognized.

The OpenAI debacle in November, in which the ChatGPT hitmaker temporarily lost its co-founders, including CEO Sam Altman, sparked five days of turmoil before Altman returned to the OpenAI hot seat. It has arrived. However, only after the emergence of companies that built products on OpenAI’s GPT-X Large-Scale Language Model (LLM). I started having doubts. That’s the wisdom of going all-in on OpenAI, as it puts you in a better position to take advantage of “open” alternatives such as Meta’s Llama-branded LLM family.

Even Google seems to acknowledge that “open” may trump “proprietary” AI. leaked An internal memo written by researchers expressed concerns that open source AI was gaining the upper hand. “We don’t have a moat, and neither does OpenAI,” the memo said.

Elsewhere, Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition of rival Figma was a boon for PenPot, an open source challenger to Figma, although the deal fell through due to regulatory headwinds. PenPot saw a surge in registrations amidst a mad panic that Adobe was about to wreak havoc on businesses. About Figma’s proverbial parade.

And when the cross-platform game engine Unity announced; Controversial new fee structure, developers were furious, calling the change breaking and unfair. In the aftermath, Unity quickly pivoted, but only after its developer community expanded widely. Checkout has started open source rivals godotnow commercial companies are also promoting core development.

But while all this has served to highlight the eternal struggle between open source and proprietary software realms, At the inner The open source community is back in the spotlight. Usually, the root cause of the uproar is a proprietary company.

(not) open source elements

Back in August, HashiCorp switched We’ve moved the popular “infrastructure as code” software Terraform from a “copyleft” open source license to a business source license (BSL or, in some cases, BUSL) available at source. This places greater restrictions on how third parties can commercialize the software, especially if they can. It competes with HashiCorp itself. Why the change? According to HashiCorp, some third-party vendors have benefited from Terraform’s community-driven development without giving anything in return.

This led to vendor-driven factions forking the original Terraform project and proceeding solely with OpenTF, ultimately leading to Rebranded as OpenTofu, served by the Linux Foundation As a governing body. Although HashiCorp was fully within its rights to change the license and protect its business interests, it caused anxiety among many users. According to OpenTofu manifesto:

Overnight, tens of thousands of businesses, from mom-and-pop stores to Fortune 500 companies, woke up to a new reality: The foundation of their infrastructure suddenly became a potential legal risk. His BUSL and additional usage permissions created by the HashiCorp team are ambiguous. All companies, vendors, and developers currently using Terraform must consider whether what they are doing is considered to be in competition with his HashiCorp’s products.

Of course, HashiCorp isn’t the first company to make such a change.App performance management (APM) platform guard Switched from open source BSD 3-Clause License It moved to BSL in 2019 for similar reasons cited by HashiCorp. But this year, Sentry created an entirely new license called the Functional Source License (FSL) aimed at “giving freedom without harmful free riders,” the company said at the time. This is similar to his BSL, but with some adjustments. For example, an FSL licensed product automatically reverts to the open source Apache license after 2 years, but with BSL it takes 4 years.

This once again highlights the persistent struggle of companies to embrace the spirit of open source without compromising commercial interests.

“There’s been a long history of companies with deeper pockets and more resources leveraging traditional open source companies,” says Sentry’s head of open source. chad whitaker he said in November. “Open source companies, regardless of licensing or pedantic definitions, are increasingly dependent on support from venture-backed, commercial, or, more importantly, companies that rely on their code. ”

And similar Grafana before thatElement has moved its decentralized communications protocol Matrix from the fully permissive Apache 2.0 license to the less permissive AGPL open source license. This forces all derivative projects to maintain the exact same license, which is a huge deterrent to commercial companies looking to develop their own products.

At a time when other companies’ business models were designed around developing their own Matrix-based software, Element realized that the cost of maintaining the Matrix, to which it is largely responsible, was He said he was forced to take on costs that he did not have to incur. To maintain the matrix. “While we have succeeded in making Matrix a huge success, Element is losing its ability to compete in the very ecosystem it has created,” the company wrote at the time.

This license change effectively meant that companies using Matrix would either have to contribute code to the project or pay a commercial license to Element in order to continue using it in their own products.

So, on the one hand, businesses, consumers, and developers alike are seeing that going all-in on proprietary platforms can lead to vendor lock-in and dire consequences if things break down. I’m doing it. But on the other hand, companies built on solid open source foundations can easily move up the ladder by changing contract terms in the name of commercial protectionism.

Of course, all this is nothing new. But the past 12 months have highlighted both the power and danger of open source software.

Source: techcrunch.com

Code.org, a nonprofit organization, files a lawsuit against WhiteHat Jr, Byju’s organization, over disputed membership fee payments

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US education nonprofit Code.org has filed a lawsuit in California District Court, alleging that WhiteHat Jr, a subsidiary of Byju, violated its licensing agreement by continuing to use Code.org’s platform without paying fees.

WhiteHat Jr, which was sold to Byju’s in 2020 for $300 million, partnered with Code.org last year, agreeing to pay $4 million over four years to license Code.org’s coding education platform. However, in a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Code.org alleges that WhiteHat Jr. failed to adhere to its payment schedule while continuing to utilize its coding courseware.

According to the Code.org complaint, WhiteHat Jr paid the 2022 license fee, but notified the nonprofit earlier this year that it would not be able to make the remaining payments scheduled in the four-year contract. Code.org claims that WhiteHat Jr requested that his original contract be amended to backload unpaid license fee obligations. But Code.org’s lawyers argue that the original contract makes clear that termination does not relieve WhiteHat Jr. of its obligation to pay all future license fees. There is.

“To date, White Hat has not paid either its Q1 2023 invoice or its Q2 2023 invoice. In fact, despite repeated written and verbal requests for payment by Code.org, , WhiteHat has not made any payments in excess of the $1 million it paid pursuant to the 2022 invoice before the agreement was amended,” Code.org’s lawyers claim.

Byju’s did not respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest trouble for Byju stemming from its acquisition of WhiteHat Jr, and adds to existing problems the company has faced since the acquisition. The Indian edtech giant, which was valued at $22 billion in a funding round in early 2022, was considering whether to wind down WhiteHat Jr earlier this year, TechCrunch reported.

This also makes Byju’s predicament even worse. Byju’s is facing a difficult situation due to prolonged delays in financial reporting and governance issues. Byju’s leading backer, Prosus, recently reduced the startup’s valuation to less than his $3 billion.

Source: techcrunch.com

Capitol Hill raises concerns over Microsoft’s close AI partnership with China

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US lawmakers are calling on Microsoft to foster a positive relationship with China in the development of AI technology, despite recent efforts by Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, to increase cooperation with the US adversary. During a meeting with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, Smith expressed the company’s eagerness to contribute to the digital transformation of China’s economy, with China looking forward to Microsoft’s potential collaboration in AI development.

However, this has raised concerns among US lawmakers and commentators, who fear that Microsoft’s extensive presence in China could pose a national security risk. Senator Josh Hawley has pushed back against Microsoft’s partnership with China, emphasizing the Chinese government’s desire for AI supremacy and the potential risks associated with such collaboration.

Rep. Mike Gallagher also expressed similar concerns, calling for stronger export controls for AI and other critical technologies due to the Chinese government’s intentions for sinister use of advanced AI tools.

The US-China relationship has recently deteriorated, and concerns over national security risks associated with Microsoft’s collaboration have been heightened. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emphasized the company’s primary focus on global markets excluding China, distancing the company from doing business with the Chinese government. However, the company has stressed its commitment to responsibly and ethically developing AI technology in China.

Despite heightened scrutiny and concerns, Microsoft continues to expand its operations in China, facing criticism from US lawmakers over potential exploitation of its technology by the Chinese government. Other US tech companies, such as Google and Meta, have pulled back from the region due to disputes with the Chinese government and increased US scrutiny.

Microsoft’s cooperation with China has raised concerns of technology transfers and potential security risks, as China has gained access to sensitive information about AI products and has been accused of misusing advanced technologies for human rights abuses.

Overall, Microsoft’s presence in China and its efforts to collaborate in AI development have sparked concern among US lawmakers and commentators, who fear the potential national security risks associated with such partnerships.

Source: nypost.com

Son utilizes artificial intelligence to bring his deceased father back for the holidays.

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It allowed her to talk to the ghosts of her past loved ones. A Missouri man brought the internet to tears by using artificial intelligence to revive his late father’s voice as a special Christmas card for his mother. “This Christmas I decided to do something special for my mom,” Phillip Willett, 27, explained in the caption. He wanted to do something unique to honor his “hero” and decided to resurrect him digitally using AI, specifically technology that he uses frequently in his work. Mr Willett was initially hesitant to use words similar to his father’s, he said, as he felt it was “strange”. But the digital guru finally came up with this idea after finding a community of people who use technology to communicate digitally with their deceased loved ones. The Missouri resident specifically used Eleven Labs’ text-to-speech software to match his late father’s exact voice. This he considered to be the most important thing to make the project a reality. Using this technology, content creators were able to create digital dead ringers that matched the tone and rhythm of their fathers. “The first words I actually put into the program were ‘Hello, honey,'” Willett said. “And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that.” [my late father] That’s why I put it into my life first. “When the show said it in his voice…I got chills all over,” added the author, who said he worked all day on the gift. “This Christmas I decided to do something special for my mom,” Willett, 27, said. They then created a digital Christmas card using their father’s voice to simulate him being home for the holidays. In the touching clip, Willett’s mother Trish Willett is seen opening a video book featuring a montage of photos of the two of them. Suddenly, her late husband greeted her: “Hello, honey, I love you,” the AI voice actor piped up as the widow sobbed. “I hear your prayers.” I want you to know that you are the best mother to our children.” The facsimile added: “And you are the strongest woman in the whole world. I will always be with you, honey, I hope you guys have a merry Christmas.” The clip ends with mother and son embracing in a heart-wrenching memory. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard his voice,” Willett said, adding that she thought the result was “amazing.” “I can also say with confidence that it will be easier for her to get through this holiday because she remembers him and knows that he will always be with her,” he concluded. TikTok commentators were similarly moved to tears by the heartfelt gesture. “Oh yeah. Here’s another Tik Tok where I sob for people I’ve never met,” said one viewer, expressing their emotion, while another said: “I knew I was going to cry but I still couldn’t stop.” Another viewer added, “Because I think your father deserves to be known.” Willett initially found the idea “bizarre” but was swayed to find a community of people thinking the same thing. A third said: “I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer 2 years ago. I don’t know if I can survive this but I miss his voice so much.” Willett replied: It was definitely a tearful process. But it turned out to be something very special.” This comes as a number of companies, from Somnium to DeepBrain, are working on AI technology that can upload the consciousness of a deceased loved one to a computer. Of course, this raised concerns about the ethics of putting words into someone’s mouth after death. Critics also worry that portraits of both living and dead people could be used for fraud and other illicit purposes. In September, Hollywood icon Tom Hanks posted an advisory on Instagram warning his followers about a commercial that used an AI-generated version of himself to promote a dental plan.

Source: nypost.com

There were few notable enterprise technology M&A deals in a slow year.

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Cisco was the most active company

It’s that time A look back at this year’s biggest tech M&A deals. Typically, by this point, the usual acquisition suspects like Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, SAP Oracle, and Cisco have undergone at least some major changes. But this year, only Cisco made a big splash, ultimately announcing 11 deals in total.

SAP has made some small deals, but Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and Oracle have been mostly quiet this year. The $61 billion Broadcom-VMware deal, announced in May 2022, was finally completed last month, and Adobe and Figma agreed this month to terminate the $20 billion deal, which ends in September 2022. It has been a regulatory impasse since it was announced in September.

It is not our imagination that transactions from major companies are decreasing. CB Insight reported There were zero deals from big tech companies in the third quarter of this year. Compare that to 2019, when there were 10 such deals in the third quarter, and 2020, when there were eight.

Graph showing the number of M&A transactions by major technology companies from 2019 to present. In his most recent quarter, Q3 2023, there were zero trades.

Image credits: CB Insight

Perhaps high borrowing costs put a damper on deals in 2023. The days when his 2020 major deals totaled $165 billion are long gone. This year’s total was just $67.7 billion, the lowest total since a record low of $40 billion in 2019, the second year the list of these top deals was compiled.

It’s worth noting that a significant number of this year’s deals involve private equity firms acquiring companies or selling them at significant profits.

Perhaps smaller deals involving AI were more important, like Atlassian’s $975 million acquisition of Loom. Salesforce acquired Airkit.ai for an undisclosed sum, one of just two small acquisitions this year. Or Snowflake’s acquisition of AI search company Neeva, again for an undisclosed amount.

Regardless, here are this year’s top 10 corporate deals, from cheapest to most expensive.

Source: techcrunch.com

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